Longtime Milwaukee lounge owner Minnette "Satin Doll" Wilson was known for her fearlessness when it came to speaking her mind.
And when police went to Satin Doll's Lounge to talk with Wilson about the murder of her close friend, August "Augie" Palmisano, she certainly had a lot to say. That was back in the summer of 1978, just days after the car bombing deathof Palmisano, who was my cousin.
No one has ever been charged in his murder.
Wilson's comments to detectives are featured in this week's episode of the“My Cousin Augie" podcast, which chronicles my journey to find out who killed my cousin,and why. The fifth episode — available onSpotify,Apple, orwherever you get your podcasts— examines the Milwaukee Police Department's investigation into his car bombing.
Wilson died in 2017, and her Satin Doll's Lounge is now shuttered. Here are some things to know about the one time jazz hotspot and the remarkable woman who ran it.
How did Minnette Wilson get her "Satin Doll" nickname?
Wilson was a dancer who, as a young woman, toured with Duke Ellington and his band. She maintained that she had inspired Ellington's hit song “Satin Doll.”
She often went by the "Satin Doll," or just "the Doll."
In her bar, which was located at 2337 W. Fond du Lac Ave.,Wilson had a downstairs party room dedicated to Ellington and decorated with photographs of him, including some with her and other band members. The room also had a jukebox loaded with Ellington's music.
It's also been reported that Ellington wrote "Satin Doll" for his longtime companion, Beatrice "Evie" Ellis.
What was the Satin Doll like?
Former Milwaukee Sentinel columnist William Janz described Wilson as "one of our city's most memorable barkeeps."
Here's an excerpt from his 1996 piece:
"If you're out of line, Satin Doll will hit you with an obscenity or with a tree limb, it's her choice. Talking about the tavern business, she said, 'It's a sad business, when tavern owners have to have guns, dogs, cameras, alarms, baseball bats and tree limbs.'
"She hauled out a limb large enough to part your hair for the last time. Stashing the limb behind her bar, she picked up a weapon that was either a huge knife or a small sword. 'This is a Cuban banana killer,' she said, laughed, and demonstrated its use by carving a large chunk of air into extremely small pieces. Her message was clear, and pointed: Don't mess with the Doll."
What was Satin Doll's Lounge like?
The lounge had a lot of red and black accents, and was always dark inside.
"Her name is up in Schlitz lights; a sign says, 'We're Insured by Smith & Wesson,'" Janz wrote in his column. "Acouple of ceramic cobras stand guard, including one with one of her garters in its mouth; a statue of the Virgin Mary looks slightly out of place; and a teddy bear and pictures of her grandkids are tucked among the bottles."
Others described it as straight out of a 007 spy film.
"The bar itself is likefrom a James Bond movie, 'Live and Let Die,'" friend and former customer Dave Mikolajek told Journal Sentinel entertainment reporter Piet Levy in 2017.
Wilson's bar had a wide range of customers, including a number of Milwaukee police officers.
In his 1996 column, Janz wrote, "For years, she has had a close relationship with police officers, whom she always defends, as if they were members of her family."
"Police adopted me," she told Janz.
What did the Satin Doll tell police about Augie Palmisano's murder?
Wilson seemed to be the only person who didn't hesitate to tell detectives that she believed reputed Milwaukee crime boss Frank P. Balistrieri was the person responsible for having Palmisano killed, according to police reports obtained through an open records request.
When a pair of detectives first went to Satin Doll's Lounge to try to interview Wilson a few days after Palmisano's murder, she told them she was too busy and upset about her old friend’s death to talk — noting his funeral had just been held.
Detectives spotted two large portraits of Palmisano hanging on the back walls of the lounge and suggested a follow-up interview.
“It is apparent that she is more than just a close friend of the deceased,” they wrote in their report. “We were unable to determine at this time just how close the relationship was.”
But there’s nothing else that might indicate they were romantically involved.
Wilson told another pair of detectives who returned the following night that she and Palmisano had dinner together a couple of times in the days leading up to his murder, and he didn’t show any signs of concern about his safety. But she added he was “the type of person that if something was bothering him, even though it would be quite serious, he would not tell anyone else about it,” the police report said.
“She several times stated that she feels that one Frank Balistrieri, otherwise known as Frankie Bell, was responsible for having August Palmisano killed,” detectives wrote.
As they were leaving, Wilson told detectives: “Frankie Bell has gone too far this time.”
(She may have actually called him "Frankie Bal," as he was commonly known at the time.)
How do people remember the Satin Doll today?
Ted Engelbart, a retired detective who served on the Milwaukee Police Department's bomb squad, told me he knew Wilson well.
"She was a very good friend of mine," Engelbart said. "I definitely feel she was a good person."
Engelbartsaid he once recommended Wilson for an award, but then-Milwaukee Police Chief Harold Breier turned it down.
According to Engelbart, officers had been sent to a disturbance near Satin Doll's Lounge and were trying to break up a fight when they got jumped. That's when Wilson saw what was happening and grabbed an officer's radio so she could call for backup, he said.
"She got them help," Engelbart said. "I was one of the officers that responded to it. So I wrote her up for a commendation, and Breier wouldn't give it to her. He turned it down. I was so upset."
Years later, Engelbart still had only good things to say about his old friend, whom he calls "the Doll."
"She had no biases, and I respected that about her," Engelbart said. "I thought, 'Wow, you know, she tells it just like it is.'"
Mary Spicuzza is an investigative reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact herat (414) 224-2324 ormary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Followheron X at@MSpicuzzaMJS.
